'It hurts the soul.' Why Penn State football melted in Peach Bowl, why 2024 can change

ATLANTA − Some Penn State football players sat at their lockers in Mercedes-Benz Stadium and dazed away, motionless, expressionless.

Tears rolled down a few faces.

Gradually, they began giving each other consoling hugs. One after another said this 38-25 loss to Ole Miss in the Peach Bowl cuts deep — hurts in a way they must try to use as motivation heading into the new year, a new season to come.

Their offense struggled again and simply seems to need a re-set with a new coordinator taking over.

But the nation's No. 1 defense? It was embarrassed in terms of yards allowed and points given up — in a way that most wouldn't have expected.

And yet, from another angle, in a way that they probably could not have stopped.

Because here's the deal: You may never see another good Penn State football team in a similar situation in the postseason, with the expanded playoffs starting in 2024.

With 12 teams owning a shot at winning a national title.

Penn State's decisive defeat here on Saturday, which didn't even feel as close as the final score suggests, began being formed by this: Ole Miss, the best, fastest-pace offense the Lions have faced all year had all of its key parts in place.

And they performed as such, from quarterback Jaxson Dart rifling one perfect sideline pass after another — and his squadron of receivers continually making contested catches — to the Rebels' star tailback getting unracked in the second half, to their standout tight end rolling through the PSU secondary.

Why?

Because Penn State's talented but youngest backups couldn't match them.

Penn State football: Missing Kalen King, Johnny Dixon

This No. 1 defense in terms of total yards and sacks simply wasn't that here, not without star cornerbacks Kalen King and Johnny Dixon and edge rusher Chop Robinson. They all opted-out to prepare for the NFL because, in honesty, this Peach Bowl just wasn't a big enough risk.

That's the way college football postseason life is, still, for now.

James Franklin talked about it multiple times in his postgame press conference.

"Just too many moving parts with the staff and with the players against a good team," is how he started.

"We had significant players who have played all year long who weren't in that game. I don't want this to come off the wrong way. I'm not criticizing, but it is what it is. It's the reality. ... Obviously, we need to have some discussions as a team in how we're going to handle these things moving forward.

"You look at last year's game (Rose Bowl victory over Utah), it was different, and we need to have some healthy discussions about that as a staff and as a team and how we want to operate moving forward."

The PSU grades: Penn State football Peach Bowl report card vs. Ole Miss: What happened to the defense?

Last season, only cornerback Joey Porter, Jr. sat out the Rose Bowl. Penn State had other experienced corners to take his place. And, simply put, Utah wasn't nearly as good on offense as Ole Miss.

So this year's bad match-up — the Rebels' quick-hit pass game against young backup corners Cam Miller and Zion Tracy — proved too much.

Losing linebacker Abdul Carter to injury just made it worse.

It could be different next year, if these two teams were in the playoff. There's a better chance that King and Dixon and Robinson and offensive tackle Olu Fashanu play with a shot to win a national title.

Doesn't mean Penn State would win. Just means the team you saw all season, the good and bad of it, would be easier to judge against a quality opponent.

Watch for these Lions: 'He's ready to take over' for Penn State football: Defenders on the rise for 2024

Because, for now, for the next eight months, these Lions must deal with the fact they were shredded for 540 yards, the most since losing at Michigan in October of 2022. That they give up 38 points and at times, almost looked helpless trying to stop it.

That's not really the defense you knew.

"This is not who we are," said sophomore linebacker Kobe King. "I wouldn’t say we're divided but as a unit ... (but) we have to be more together."

“There’s a lot of fine detail you don’t really see from the outside," said senior defensive end Adisa Isaac. "Bowl games, people opt out, there’s a lot of moving pieces going on. There’s a lot you don’t see that plays a factor into the game."

Of course, Isaac and others added this sentiment, too: "At the end of the day you still got to get the job done."

They do, sure enough. That's the sign of the very best of teams.

The ones that hit the offseason with a victory to feel best about. Of course, that will change, too, starting next season. Only one of the top 12 teams will truly earn that.

"You work your butt off all offseason and in season, you put in all that time and effort, and when it doesn’t pay off it just hurts," said Penn State sophomore linebacker Dom DeLuca.  "It hurts the soul."

It's fine that losing brings that, can motivate like that.

You hope that the expanded playoff will just allow more of the best units on the best teams to square off more evenly.

At least more of chance of it.

Frank Bodani covers Penn State football for the York Daily Record and USA Today Network. Contact him at  fbodani@ydr.com and follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @YDRPennState.

This article originally appeared on York Daily Record: Playoff can fix Penn State football, Peach Bowl problem vs. Ole Miss